Propane Concerns

Now that the LG heater is plumbed to the propane tank, I have to admit that I don't know if I can ever feel comfortable cleaning with it when I will be 400 feet away from the truck.

It's funny really, I have a dozen 1 lb bottles scattered all over the place in my garage...never worried. I have a gas furnace and stove in my house that I never check over unless I smell a leak...never worried. I will fire up the acetylene torch to remove stubborn bolts....never worried. Clean some carpet with a bbq tank fed water heater......I get worried.

I don't know what it is about using a propane heater on my truck that bothers me, but it is hard to shake. It is just a wok burner for crying out loud and so it is no worse than using the bbq grill on the deck, yet I keep envisioning bad things happening.

Hopefully, this feeling passes quickly or else I may not be cut out for propane cleaning. I can't be constantly peaking out the window every 5 minutes to look for flames, but you can bet I will be doing that for awhile.

At least its 400' away.
Installed right, they are safe.
Dooms dayer and the "carpet cleaning van blows up, details today at 5".
Those are probably the same idiots that have a gas can in the cargo area for the slide in .

https://www.google.com/search?q=forrest+gump+stupid&client=ms-opera-mobile&biw=1024&bih=552&site=webhp&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIr92i9qLXyAIVyJENCh1KggS7#imgrc=n1DKrmj9EvIu8M%3A

I know that you are correct and cleaners have been running them for decades now.....and less face it, there are some really dumb cleaners out there....yet there aren't any rash of explosions or fires.

I hope to get comfortable with it or else I am unloading this project.

I did tell you guys about my propane explosion didnt I? not to scare you Rob but I had a doozie of one. not in my van and it wasnt a faulty propane tank....it was a fire that went to my "TANKS" several big ones. I have faith in them even after that.....but if ever there is a fire near your truck Look Out!

That is one of the reasons I have gone the route of using smaller tanks positioned several feet away from the truck. And it is also why the heater sits in a compartment with the water tank only....isolated from the rest of the cargo area. You see, I was nervous from the start.

Tanks always make me nervous ever since we had a shop air compressor explode in my family's shop. It blew out all the windows and put a hole through the cinder block wall about the size of a washing machine. Luckily, I was outside talking to a customer at the time, but my ears were ringing for 2 days.

I guess I will get over it....anything can happen and you can't plan for everything. I just don't think I will ever be fully comfortable with it, but I should be able to tolerate it. It is that way with high places for me, I hate it, but I have done some sky-diving just the same.

LP is very very safe Mil, its combustible as a vapor.. yes the tank will explode if you shoot it with a rifle but only in a ploom of white smoke.


also youve seen some of these cleaners vans, old boxes all over the place with old rags and towels.. Id bet most everytime there has been an accident it was pure stupidity like a cardboard box sitting right next to the burner.



actually if a thermostat sticks on a HX machine you can have a serious fire, much more likely to happen imo


Imagine driving your car and it starts to overheat big time, except your 400ft away and the engine just keeps going for over an hr until the car is on fire.


just make sure your insured, if it happens it happens.

I already had the last scenario when my direct drive clutch froze up and caught fire. It melted my air cleaner box and scorched my hood before I made it back to the van to investigate my loss of vacuum.

Now I leave my hood open when the vehicle is running so I can watch for flames / smoke while I work.

I guess it is just one more concern and nothing else. I do think I am going to have to cave in and buy a new belly tank for it instead of just using bbq tanks....not comfortable with the tanks sitting right over the transmission and batteries like I had planned.

Does the bbq tank sit in the truck the way it is now? I would at least put it on the ground while running the burner.

My buddy's van blown up and he was burnt to crisp !!

Lol, just kidding Rob, when he used to run propane, his tech forgot to turn it off or something and he was fixing something in the van and I forgot what he did but it blew up and blew him 10 feet away to the ground, burn some of his eyebrows.

Other than that I really don't know much about propane system, but like others said, I'm sure it's safe if you run it carefully, heck Dave has been running propane ever since he's been doing this and I don't think he ever had an accident ?

After a while I'm sure you'd be thinking about this less and less.

ACpower1 wrote:Does the bbq tank sit in the truck the way it is now?      I would at least put it on the ground while running the burner.

Oh heavens no, it is in a cargo rack between the cab and the box when on the road. When using it, the tank sits on a non-tip base plate about 4 feet from the truck.

I am already feeling a little better about it, but I should check on the legality of carrying tanks between the cab and box. The gas company tech (installs all the propane systems in this area) told me it would be legal as long as they were not connected to the heater while in the mounts.

The problem is that those tanks would sit right above the transmission and battery box....not to mention just 3 feet behind the engine under the cab. I don't see any other option except installing a belly tank to avoid that.....that would put me back to the propane availability issue again.